Placerville Results 98-08-08

Robinson scores second Placerville win Saturday night Pacific Sprint driver takes lead on opening lap and never looks back

PLACERVILLE (8-8-98) -Even though he has maintained the division point lead for the majority of the season and had claimed one feature win here prior to this weekend, SacramentoÕs David Robinson Jr. hadn't considered Alan PadjenÕs Placerville Speedway to be the site of his best performances.

That all changed Saturday night, however, when Robinson dominated the action on the El Dorado County Fairground track and scored his second Pacific Sprint feature event win of the season. According to Robinson in victory lane, Saturdays win was all about 'attitude'.

"The crew and I both came to the race track with a totally different attitude tonight," said Robinson. "It doesn't matter of you have the nicest sprint car out here, if you don't have the right attitude and your not enjoying yourself you arenÕt going to go anywhere."

Robinson started his winning ways early in Saturday night's program which was the 13th Budweiser / Coors Light / RC Cola / McCreary Tires event of the season. After clocking in the fifth fastest time of the evening, the current division point leader went on to score victory in the "Lighting Dash For Cash". The win was also RobinsonÕs second of it's type this season at foothill track and he went on to place third in his preliminary heat race prior to the feature event.

When the green flag waved on the 20-lap feature, the first drivers to see it were polesitter Gary Morgan of Elk Grove and second place starter Vern Morrison of Cameron Park. Robinson started on the outside of the second row in the fourth position.

Going into the first set of turns, Morgan took the initial lead but didnÕt hold it for long as Robinson made quick work of third place starter Damion Gardner of Concord and pulled to the inside of the track in an effort to pass both Morgan and Morrison on one move. traveling down the backstretch three abreast, the trio of top runners entered the third turn and Robinson's low line on the track gave him the advantage he needed to power ahead of Morgan and Morrison.

Once he was in front of the field , Robinson maintained a healthy lead over Morgan who was being challenged by the seventh lap by Chico's Stephen Allard who advanced from seventh into third. The battle for the bridesmaid position position continued until the ninth circuit when Morgan and Allard came out the fourth turn and collided. The incident sent Morgan into the front stretch wall where he sheared off his right rear tire. Allard suffered a flat tire and after the necessary replacement, returned to the rear of the field.

On the restart, Morrison moved into the second place position to challenge Robinson for the remainder of the event. Despite several caution flag delays due to spins and stalls, Robinson maintained his front row status all the way to the checkered flag where he was followed by Morrison, Mike Benson of Calistoga, AuburnÕs Andy Forsberg and Gardner.

"We definitely came out here with a good attitude and we're planning on keeping that attitude from now on," Robinson explained. "You can't get too down on yourself when your down and you have to make sure to don't get too high when your high. "You just have to have lot of fun and that's we did here tonight."

In the Pure Stock division a season high car count of 17 late model vehicles took the green flag. Neil Webster of Placerville took the lead on the opening lap from his front row starting position and never looked back for the entire 20-lap affair.

In the early laps of the event Webster's closest challenger was Rob Laroe of Citrus Heights while Will fanning of Placerville worked the third position and Eric Hansard of Orangevale powered up from seventh into fourth. On the eighth lap Fanning and Hansard made contact and became hung on to one another, the two drivers eventually broke free but fell back several positions. Hansard would recover and regain several positions but an apparent motor failure later in the event sidelined him.

While the action looked much like a traffic jam from the second position back, Webster kept his Chevelle low on the track surface and maintained his front row position all the way to the checkered flag where he picked up his second season victory and was followed across the line by Mel Byers of Loomis, Don Holloran of Rio Vista, Dan Farrington of Fiddletown and Foster Leedy of Lodi.

"Everything felt really good out there tonight," said Webster. "The car was hooked up, my crew is great, my sponsors are wonderful they've been hanging in there all year and it just feels really good to be here tonight. I'm starting to get the confidence that it's going to stick when I go into the corner and I hope we'll be right back here next week."

In the Pro Stock division, Mike Chandler of Citrus Heights scored his fourth victory of the season. Chandler started the event on the pole. At the waving of the green flag Chandler powered his Gary Mohr owned Chevelle ahead of second place starter Jeff Gavard of Placerville. Gavard didn't permit Chandler to move into the front easily, however, has be put the pressure on the leader for the first several laps.

As Chandler distanced himself from the field, the battle for the following three positions continued to heat up. With three laps complete Alex Hansen of Placerville and Mike Moran, the current division point leader of Rancho Cordova got together in turn four and brought out the yellow flag. The incident sent Moran to the pits for a tire change and to the back of the field for the restart.

When the green flag came out again, Chandler maintained his lead all the way to the checkered flag. Larry Burton of Shingle Springs finished second followed by Earl Shoopman of Grass Valley, Mike Nuss of Pollock Pines and Dennis Armstrong of Eldorado.

"It was rough track tonight so we were really lucky to start up front," said Chandler."ÒI just pulled away and held on to it once the green flag came out. I made a few mistakes out there but none of them were too costly for me."

The three regular Placerville divisions were joined Saturday by the hardtops of the Northern California Modified Association. This was the third and final season visit for the NCMA competitors and Duane Watson of Oakland claimed his fourth win of the season. Watson was followed across the finish line by Del Quinn, Henry Mitchell III, Mike Lokmor and Bill Felver.

Racing action will continue next Saturday night at Placerville Speedway where a change to the original schedule has taken place. Next week's program will include Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks, Sprint 100's as well as the IMCA style dirt modifieds for the Northern California Dirt Modified Series. For any further information on this event contact the track business office at (916) 969-7484.

PLACERVILLE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 1998

PACIFIC SPRINT CARS

FAST QUALIFIERS: 1.) Marc Mackay- 11:286; 2.) Stephen Allard 11:349; 3.) Mike Benson 11:383; 4.) Billy Sellers 11:417; 5.) David Robinson Jr 11:454

LIGHTNING DASH FOR CASH: David Robinson Jr.

HEAT 1: Dave Davidson; Dave Angus; Robinson; Marc Mackay; Matt Cole.

HEAT 2: Ty Hawkins; Shauna Hogg; Vern Morrison; Stephen Allard; Justin Johnson.

HEAT 3: Gary Morgan; Damion Gardner; Mark Flachman; Mike Benson; Alan Silva.

HEAT 4: Guy Morrison; Rick Frock; Shawn Whitney; Billy Sellers; Andy Forsberg.

B-MAIN: Forsberg; Johnson; Silva; Joey Magaruh; Dave Masters.

A-MAIN: Robinson; Morrison; Benson; Forsberg; Gardner.

PRO STOCKS

HEAT 1: Mike Chandler; Larry Burton; Charlie Mars; Alex Hansen; Greg Lewin.

HEAT 2: Jeff Gavard; Earl Shoopman; Dennis Armstrong; Mike Nuss; Mike Moran.

MAIN: Chandler; Burton; Shoopman; Nuss; Armstrong.

PURE STOCKS

HEAT 1: Rob Laroe; Bobby Bankson; Matt Keeler; Will Fanning; Mel Byers.

HEAT 2: Eric Hansard; Rick Grunert; Bill OÕNeill; Neil Webster; Jess Webster.

MAIN: Webster; Byers; Don Holloran; Dan Farrington; Foster Leedy.

NCMA MODIFIEDS

HEAT 1: Bill Felver; Burt Siverling; Duane Watson; Duane Rogers; Larry Texiera.

HEAT 2: Del Quinn; Andy Archer; Vince Skaggs; Joe Kuderca; Mark Smith.

HEAT 3: Ed Amador; Scott Holloway; Henry Mitchell III; Mike Lokmor; Stan Cargo . TROPHY DASH: Ed Amador

MAIN: Watson; Quinn; Archer; Lokmor; Felver.